The return of Iphigeneia, by Yannis Ritsos, will travel to New York where it will represent Greece at United Solo Theatre Festival, the world’s biggest solo theatre festival.

One of the most important and timely theatrical texts of modern Greek dramaturgy will be staged under the direction of Manolis Ionas, at the legendary Theatre Row, on Friday 7 November 2014. The return of Iphigeneia is the only Greek entry at the international New York festival. The protagonist of the current performance, which will combine poetic, choric and musical elements, is the pianist and dancer Tatu Dede.

Written in 1972, the return of Iphigeneia is a part of Yannis Ritsos’s Fourth Dimension, an evocative play which consists of multiple verse poems that function as a theatrical monologue, all of which have been written from 1956 until 1975 and are mainly inspired by Greek mythology.

In the Greece of today, where everything is overturned, the language used by Ritsos becomes timelier than ever. Using ancient Greek tragedy as its main source of inspiration, Ritsos raises extremely burning issues; what constitutes modern Greece, what does it represent, who are its people and what is the truth they carry? What is a homeland and what is the significance of all the struggles for its survival?

We therefore have the expression of extremely pressing issues in an environment undergoing a social, political, economic and ethical crisis. In an era of anguish and oblivion, Ritsos calls our attention to the unity and tragedy of Hellenism throughout the centuries, with the assistance of an extremely contemporary, poetic as well as scathing language.

Direction – Settings: Manolis Ionas

Acting - Piano: Tatu Dede

Lightings: Eliza Aleksandropoulou

Graphics: Christina Sifianou

Theatrical Poster: Eirini Steirou

 Performance Posters: Yorgos Stathopoulos

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DKr9byP7pXY